Friday, May 17, 2013

Well we have gone through 2 spring frosts since the blossoms have come out, first one was 24 degrees, and the last one was just 33 at my thermometer, hopefully little damage. Some vines were blackened but mostly everything seems ok but will have to wait for fruit to see what actually survived.

Each year I like to add a few new fruit trees to the food forest gardens. Starting in the front yard I have two hickory nut trees, a plum, a fruit cocktail tree that only one graft lived on so I'm waiting to see which fruit (peach, nectarine, plum or apricot) decides to grow on it. Here is a picture of that tree and a few trees behind it blooming from whatever roots of dead above the graft trees didn't get pulled out, likely peaches.

to the left of tese trees is this pretty little crabaple tree, it is old in the woodpeckers have been attacking the above tree and this one..not sure why...but so far they have survived.

These are to the west (left) of my front porch, and the following trees are on the right of my front porch. The one that looks almost dead is a Halls Hardy Almond, and I belive it either sustained winter damage or damage from last year's drought, the Peach (Contender) to the right of it also has had some damage, including half of it having to be cut out this spring from rabbit damage, neither have blossoms this year. To the right of those we lost a pear tree and had severe rabbit damage on two other pear trees which we cut down to about 5" tall, but they are regrowing (won't show up in photos though).

We will wait until thenew growth does finish on the almond before we prune out the dead, as I'm not sure what will still grow at this time. All of these trees are under planted with shrubs, perennial and vines in ornamental beds in the front yard. There are a few other edibles in the front here too, such as grape vines and currants and lots of other beds not in these photos.

Going around the EAST end of our house is a deck. Planted up against the deck are 3 more pear trees, they are just about finished blossoming but you can see a few blooms still hanging on.

There is a rogue cherry tree hanging out here as well. These trees are under planted with comfrey and perennials as well as some nearby strawberries, a greenhouse and a hugelkultur bed in this area. Here are some shots of the baby hugelkultur bed (the bed has logs in it) which I'm just getting some planting done on. There are whips of baby peach trees on each end of the bed, some greens coming up along the sides and top and a few other things planted, mostly seeds aren't up yet...waiting for seeds to come up before I mulch it.

Around behind the house on the North side are some cherry trees, I planted several but some died and are being replaced and planted elsewhere. The first photo is a rogue from the roots of a Richland, not really sure what will come of it, the other is one that survived of 2 Dwarf Bing cherries.

These cherry trees are growing in ornamental and herb beds with lots of shrubs, perennials, herbs and even some strawberries as a ground cover. North of this area is our drainfield garden (you can see that in other posts) and then the large apple tree by the shed. There are also grapevines and climbing roses that will grow over several arbors on the property, some here.

North of this shed, arbor and apple tree is a lattice enclosed area that has a swing and several beds including my asparagus beds, some annual beds and a lot of baby fruit and nut trees. The hazelnuts gave me some nuts for the first time last year..the chestnuts are still babies as are the fruit trees and the berry bushes and especially the blueberries, most so small you can hardly photograph them. There are also honeyberry and gooseberries, strawberries, raspberries, black raspberries, wild plum, currant and others growing in this area, I have baby kiwi vines I will be planting and there are grape vines which also began producing last year. Most are not yet visible this spring..just sticks.

Here are some photos of things you CAN see.

One of two dwarf North Star cherries, they won't get much larger than this and this will likely be their first year to bear.

Nova Spy Apple tree baby I just planted this year.

Scarlet Canadian Cherry tree, the leaves turn red after the flowers fade and remain red all summer and fall.

These are Standard Peaches, one is a Hale Haven and one is an Elberta Peach.

Another baby tree this year (several planted each year). This one is a Stella Cherry, standard size and yet to arrive are another standard cherry ..Windsor that will go west of this one.

This is a baby Sweet 16 super dwarf apple, this is it's first year to bloom, behind it is a black raspberry bush and there are 2 baby sweet chestnut trees along the lattice fence.

Here are 2 of our 6 dwarf american hazelnuts, these bore for the first time last year, they are planted in a hedge along the north lattice, behind them are jerusalem artichokes (not up) and 2 mulberries, and west of them to the left out of photo are 4 American Plums.

This is a dwaf baby Braeburn Apple, so far no blossoms on this little baby.

This is a semi dwarf baby Snow Apple, it has a few blossoms. I had to cut about 2' off the top of this one as the top died..but it seems to be recovering.

Enough for now, had a lot more photos to share but the computer is giving me fits so I'll post these one.

About Me

As of today I am a 60 (edited) year old woman with a husband who has a disabling head injury and physical injuries. I have lived on this property with my husband for 40 and have a grown son who lives next door.
I am partially disabled but do enjoy working in the yard and gardens.
I use organic and permaculture principles on the property and try to plant as many trees as I can afford each year.
In 2002 we had a housefire that destroyed our gardens, yard and house. We put in a new doublewide home 40 feet behind where our old house was and began to replant the gardens. Our son was given part of our land that was woods and food forest gardens in 2006 so we had to again start over with the food forests.
At this point in time, we are still replanting fruit and nut trees and shrubs as well as perennial food and ornamental plants. Some of the trees and shrubs have begun to bear so we are again becoming more inedependent as far as food goes, although we do not raise domestic animals for food at this time. (just have 2 cats)